Big names like Ryan Estrada, Derek Kirk Kim, and Jen Wang headline a fall lineup that’s full of fresh takes on familiar coming-of-age and romance themes—plus super-futuristic mermaids.
Top 10
Ash’s Cabin
Jen Wang. First Second, Aug. 13 ($17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-250-75406-6)
Wang follows bestseller Stargazing with a “stunning, contemplative wilderness adventure [about] living in what often feels like a time of apocalyptic change,” per PW’s starred review. Ages 14–18.
Ditching Saskia
John Moore and Neetols. Flying Eye, Oct. 1 ($19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-83874-155-6)
A teen mourning his mother hopes to conjure her ghost and gets a sassy spirit kid sidekick instead. Ages 12 and up.
Dreamover
Dani Diaz. Top Shelf, Jan. 14 ($24.99, ISBN 978-1-60309-546-4)
The stress of high school strains a budding romance between childhood friends. When they fall magically into a shared dream, they’re unsure if they ever want to wake up. Ages 13–17.
Girlmode
Magdalene Visaggio and Paulina Ganucheau. HarperCollins, Oct. 15 ($18.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-06-306065-4)
The “new girl” trope takes on added dimensions in this graphic novel about a transfer student who has also recently gender transitioned. Ages 14 and up.
I Heart Skull-Crusher!
Josie Campbell and Alessio Zonno. Boom! Box, Dec. 31 ($16.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-63796-951-9)
Mad Max by way of Rollergirl appears to be the flavor of this comic, which follows a “pain ball” player on a trek with her fave pro, Skull Crusher, to a postapocalyptic arena. Ages 14 and up.
The Last Mermaid
Derek Kirk Kim. Image, Sept. 17 ($14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5343-5921-5)
Eisner winner Kirk Kim’s first book since 2013’s Tune series plunges readers into a world of postapocalyptic mermaids. Ages 13 and up.
Leap
Simina Popescu. Roaring Brook, Nov. 12 ($17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-250-83830-8)
At a competitive boarding school for ballerinas, many of the dancers are secretly dating—or pining for—each other while also vying for the spotlight. Ages 14–18.
Navigating with You
Jeremy Whitley and Cassio Ribeiro. Maverick, Aug. 13 ($14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-952303-60-9)
Opposite personalities spark over a shared manga fandom in this queer romance about two girls on a road trip in search of volumes missing from their favorite series. Ages 14 and up.
No Rules Tonight
Kim Hyun Sook and Ryan Estrada. Penguin Workshop, Oct. 1 ($17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-593-52130-4)
The sequel to Banned Book Club returns to 1980s South Korea as political and romantic awakenings flourish on a Christmas weekend getaway in the mountains. Ages 12 and up.
Visitations
Corey Egbert. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Nov. 19 ($17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-374-30839-1)
When Corey’s mother’s religious fanaticism crosses into paranoia, a ghostly girl appears to help him learn to break away. Ages 12 and up.
Young Adult Comics & Graphic Novels Longlist
ABLAZE
Harvey Kurtzman’s Marley’s Ghost by Charles Dickens et al. (Nov. 19, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-68497-353-8) presents Kurtzman’s adaptation of the Christmas classic, which the
influential cartoonist first began in 1950 and is now completed by Josh O’Neill and Shannon Wheeler, with art by Gideon Kendall. Ages 12 and up.
BLOOMSBURY
Hovergirls by Geneva Bowers (Aug. 6, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5476-1119-5) adapts the webtoon by the Hugo Award–winning artist into a graphic novel, wherein a fashionable teen and her heartbroken cousin discover unexpected superpowers in the city of Los Aguaceros. Ages 14–17.
BOOM Box!
The Graveyard Club: Revenge Game by R.L. Stine and Carola Borelli (Sept. 17, $9.99 trade paper, ISBN 979-8-89215-033-0). The Goosebumps creator returns with a tale of teen pranks gone horrific when a crew start getting together in the cemetery of a town called Grave’s End. Ages 12 and up.
Zawa + The Belly of the Beast by Michael Dialynas (Sept. 24, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-63796-942-7). The latest from the GLAAD Award–winning cartoonist features a hungry spirit sick of eating toxic trash, whose outlook improves when local teens get her away from pollution—and into some better grub. Ages 14 and up.
DARK HORSE
Dudley Datson and the Forever Machine by Scott Snyder and Jamal Igle (Oct. 22, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5067-3092-9). A teen inventor finds himself in trouble—and rocketing through time—along with his pet pup as the duo meets up with famous folks from history and their little dogs, too. Ages 14 and up.
Ghostbusters: Back in Town by David M. Booher et al. (Oct. 29, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5067-3527-6) continues the rebooted franchise as the Spengler heirs move into the firehouse and pick up paranormal hunting like they were born to do it, with art by Blue Delliquanti, Mildred Louis, Jimmy Betancourt, and Cris Peter. Ages 12 and up.
Pathways: Chronicles of Tuvana by Elaine Tipping (Sept. 3, $24.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5067-3649-5) collects the fantasy webcomic series with a queer cast into its first print volume. Digging up ruins was supposed to bring the warring factions of Tuvana together, but a quirky cast of royals, scholars, and fighters get plunged into a mystery instead. Ages 13 and up.
DC COMICS
The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley by Melissa Marr and Jenn St-Onge (Oct. 1, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-77950-975-8). Ordinary teen Harleen and her girlfriend decide to enter a paid clinical trial for anxiety, and end up falling in league with the infamous and irrepressible Harley Quinn. Ages 13–17.
This Land Is Our Land: A Blue Beetle Story by Julio Anta and Jacoby Salcedo
(Oct. 1, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-77952-282-5). Texas high schooler Jamie Reyes finds his immigrant community under threat, both by the military and youth hate groups, just as he begins to feel the stirrings of his superpowers in dreams of space aliens known as the Reach. Ages 13–17.
Wonder Woman: The Adventures of Young Diana by Jordie Bellaire and Paulina Gaunucheau (Aug. 6, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-77952-713-4). Eisner winner Bellaire joins up with Gaunucheau for a story about the princess of Themyscira, who longs to break out of her cloistered island life, and to uncover the secret history of her people and lands. Ages 13–17.
DIFFERENCE ENGINE
Afterlife: The Boy Next Realm by Gina Chew and Nahir Nor (Oct. 15, $17.50 trade paper, ISBN 978-981-18-0412-0). A sister strives to save her sickly little brother, hoping a spirit boy she meets will help her, not realizing that he recognizes her from a past life. Ages 13 and up.
Two Tails by Kifurai (Aug. 20, $13.50 trade paper, ISBN 978-981-18-6024-9). Rara thinks cats are the worst, which makes her all the more desperate to get back into her human body after she reawakens following a bike accident as a feline—one with two tails. Ages 13 and up.
DYNAMITE
Last of the Gladiators by James M. LaRossa Jr., Jonathan Vankin, and Giorgio Pontrelli (Oct 22, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-5241-2647-6) adapts LaRossa’s memoir about growing up as the son of a mafia lawyer into a graphic novel full of cameos by John Gotti, Frank Sinatra, Don King, and others. Ages 13 and up.
EMANATA
Survival of the Goodest by Marianne Boucher (Oct. 24, $20 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-77262-104-4). An island dweller trained as a Kerpathic, a kind of messenger, strives to save the unique fauna of her home from outsiders. Ages 12 and up.
FIRST SECOND
Song of a Blackbird by Maria Van Lieshout (Jan. 21, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-250-86982-1). Annick’s grandmother has cancer, and her search for a bone marrow donor turns up family history from WWII and a daring Dutch bank heist designed to thwart the Nazis, in picture book illustrator Van Lieshout’s debut graphic novel. Ages 14–18.
The Sweetness Between Us by Sarah Winifred Searle (Oct. 22, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-250-86318-8). Searle follows The Greatest Thing with a new twist on vampire trysts—when a boy dealing with diabetes meets a girl who’s dealing with being a reincarnated blood sucker, she finds she can sip-test his sweetness. Ages 14–18.
GEMSTONE
Romeo vs. Juliet: A Kill Shakespeare Adventure by Anthony Del Col and Stefan Tosheff (Nov. 19, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-60360-647-9) turns the Shakespearean tragedy upside down and sends in out West, where Juliet is a pregnant knife-slinger for hire guarding a nunnery from villainous foe (and ex-boyfriend) Romeo. Ages 13 and up.
GRAPHIX
Please Be My Star by Victoria Grace Elliott (Sept. 3, $15.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-338-84040-7) takes inspiration from The Phantom of the Opera in a meet-cute about a geeky new girl who becomes enamored with a handsome
theater kid and writes a play to keep him interested in her. Ages 14–17.
GUnGNIR
Forward, as Always by Olan Rogers and Jake Sidwell (Oct. 29, $22.99, ISBN 978-1-962594-20-2). In a dying land wracked by fire and water, a Gallilean Packbrat follows smoke signals and trains as he tries to survive to face his destiny. Ages 13 and up.
HARPERALLEY
I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner (Oct. 8, $18.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-358-68238-7) crosses up a Jane Austen–style marriage plot with gender identity drama as a pair of friends become lovers, though one has a secret. Ages 13 and up.
Thief of the Heights by
Son M. and Robin Yao (Oct. 22, $18.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-06-306732-5). In a city of towers that rise above the threats that infect the waterlogged streets, including a sickness that leaves poorer denizens missing limbs, three friends strive to climb ever higher. Ages 13 and up.
HIGHWATER
Little Moons by Jen Storm and Ryan Howe (Sept. 3, $20.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-77492-107-4). When Reanna’s sister goes missing and is presumed dead, her mother leaves their Ojibwe reservation. Reanna mourns both losses but begins to find hope and healing in the traditions of her tribe. Ages 12 and up.
IMAGE
Anzuelo by Emma Ríos (Nov. 19, $24.99, ISBN 979-8-3688-0926-7). In this fantastical work from Eisner-winning cartoonist Ríos, oceans rise and subsume the earth, leading a trio of kids to try to figure out how to survive in this new underwater realm while remaining true to their pacifist ideals. Ages 12 and up.
Feral by Tony Fleece and Trish Forstner (Sept. 17, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5343-7296-2) follows up Stray Dogs with the story of a group of cats—Elsie, Lord Fluffy Britches, and Patch—who want to find a safe haven in a world overtaken by a rabies epidemic that’s left animals and humans zombified. Ages 16 and up.
We Called Them Giants by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans (Nov. 12, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-5343-8707-2). The first standalone graphic novel from the team behind the Die series finds a girl on her own in a postapocalyptic world, trying to find food and stay out of the way of gangs, when terrifying new creatures appear. Ages 13 and up.
LB INK
Mismatched: A Modern Graphic Retelling of Emma by Anne Camlin and Isadora Zeferino (Sept. 3, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-316-70410-6) sets Jane Austen’s classic story in contemporary Queens, N.Y., with queer pairings and a kid on social media playing matchmaker in his high school. Ages 14–18.
MAGNETIC
Lost Letters by Jim Bishop (Oct. 8, $24.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-962413-08-4) references anime art in the tale of a boy’s trip through his island home—populated by talking fish—to the post office, and the lonely soul he meets en route who works for the Octopus syndicate. Ages 13 and up.
My Dear Pierrot by Jim Bishop (Oct. 22, $24.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-962413-13-8) conjures a love-triangle romance between a noblewoman, her intended upper-class beau, and an alluring young street magician called Pierrot. Ages 16 and up.
MAVERICK
The Pirate Princess by Luca Frigerio and Lorenza Pigliamosche (Oct. 8, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-952303-59-3) takes to the seas with the daughter of the pirate known as King as she seeks her raffish royal father. Ages 14 and up.
Tectiv by Richard Ashley Hamilton and Marco Matrone (Dec. 10, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5458-1244-0). Bingo’s a farm girl in a postapocalyptic California, where cities have been wiped out. The only person in her community who can read, she becomes obsessed with L.A. noir novels she scavenges from garbage dumps, imagining herself a detective. Ages 14 and up.
Teleportation and Other Luxuries by Archie Bongiovanni and Mary Verhoeven (Nov. 12, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5458-1224-2). In a futuristic city, a lucrative science competition brings together a disparate crew of teenagers—including a dashing smarty pants, a nonbinary skeptic, a solitary sort, and a brilliant engineer—who are in it to win it, even if it takes breaking the rules of physics. Ages 14 and up.
ONI
I Felt Myself Slipping by Ray Nadine (Sept. 10, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-63715-496-0). The author, a former competitive gymnast, brings personal experience to this fictionalized tale of Olympic hopefuls, including a grieving girl who is also hard of hearing and feels out of place among her teammates—until one of them determines to learn American Sign Language. Ages 14–18.
PUTNAM
Full Shift by Jennifer Dugana and Kit Seaton (Aug. 27, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-593-52984-3). A werewolf girl crushes on her best friend, who is also a girl—and a human, which is the real trouble. She’s seduced by hunters who claim to have an antidote to her lupine nature, but they’re leading her astray. Ages 13–17.
The Terrifying Tales of Vivian Vance by Josh Ulrich (Oct. 8, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-593-40366-2). The adults of the town of Pensmouth like to scare kids to sleep by claiming a monster will catch them if they don’t close their eyes. Amateur teen detective Vivian teams up with a crew from the wrong side of the tracks to find out the truth. Ages 12 and up.
TOP SHELF
Undergrowth by Ricky Lima and Daniele Aquilani (Sept. 3, $24.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-60309-544-0). In a world ravaged by climate change, aliens kill teenager Red and some of her buddies, but they come back to life inside mechanical suits and fight back. Ages 13–17.
UNION SQUARE & CO.
Welcome to Fear City by Sarah Dvojack (Sept. 3, $13.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-4549-5392-0). This prose novel with 22 interstitial graphic novel pages is set in 1977 New York City, where a serial killer is on the loose and a 17-year-old with emerging powers embarks on a dangerous quest after she has a vision of another girl’s murder. Ages 13 and up.
VERSIFY
Side Quest: A Visual History of Roleplaying Games by Samuel Sattin and Steenz (Oct. 8, $18.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-358-61637-5) offers an explainer of the dice-rolling, endlessly calculating subculture of role-playing games—including historical predecessors to the modern D&D style, with plenty of anecdotes from the coauthors’ gamer days. Ages 13 and up.
VIKING
Luminous Beings by David Arnold and Jose Pimienta (Sept. 3, $24.99, ISBN 978-0-593-62090-8). Lifelong best friends Ty and Burger survived the near collapse of humanity at the hands of mutant squirrels—and are now making an indie film about it together. Ages 13–17.
WEBTOON UNSCROLLED
Morgana and Oz by Miyuli (Sept. 3, $18.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-998854-83-7) adapts the webtoon about the supernatural star-crossed romance between a striving young witch and a hipster vampire, whose families (coven and clan, respectively) are feuding. Ages 13–18.
Your Throne by Sam (Oct. 1, $18.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-998854-79-0). When Lady Medea Solon of the Vasilios Empire swaps bodies with her enemy, she must rethink her path to vengeance. Ages 13–18.
